Flyers don't think better team won

Club missed Pronger

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They were swept and outscored in the four games 20-7, but the Philadelphia Flyers still were reluctant to show the Boston Bruins much respect.

“I’m not going to say the better team won, but the team that was playing better is moving on,” said Flyers defenceman Sean O’Donnell after the Bruins eliminated the Flyers with a 5-1 win Friday night at the TD Garden. “They are hitting on all cylinders right now. We put in a good effort tonight, (but) it just seems we weren’t hitting on all cylinders. It seemed like when we did get a chance it was jumping over a stick, or they were getting a stick in the lane. Their second goal to go up by one went off a shaft. I’m not taking anything away - they deserved the series - but it seemed like we were a little bit off and they were playing real well.”

The Flyers were victimized by some poor defensive play in the series and the annual story of chaos in goal. Sergei Bobrovsky started Friday night after coming on in relief of Brian Boucher in the first three games of the series. They were without big defenceman Chris Pronger for the last three games with rumours he is suffering from a herniated disc.

“We just mentioned that in there (the dressing room),” said Flyers coach Peter Laviolette of Pronger’s absence. “You just notice the impact a guy like (Zdeno) Chara has on the other side and when you don’t have your big guy in there. (Pronger) plays the same style and the same way. You certainly miss him.

“But I have never been one to to really use injuries as an excuse. We had good players in the lineup and opportunities to win some games and we didn’t.”